Manipulator

ABSTRACT

A hydraulically operated manipulator is controlled as an automatic assembly robot to grasp, position and join parts. A tape is perforated with coded instructions and dimensions to control the sequence and amount of displacement by means of incremental motions in several modes of movement of the manipulator. Such modes include grip, sweep, X, Y, Z, Theta (arcuate gripper wrist motion) and search (vibratory parts matching such as inserting a pin in a hole). The main components of the manipulator are a tape reader, an electrically and hydraulically controlled hydraulic serial-to-parallel converter and memory and a hydraulic driver, integer and fraction hydraulic piston adders, an articulated series of X, Y, Z slide members with a gripper and a wrist member all driven by a common drive cable, and a vibratory hydraulic search mechanism.

United States Patent [72] Inventor HugoAJanisidi PeekskilLNX. [2|] Appl.No. 694,941 [22] Filed Jan.2, 1968 [45] Patented Apr. 20, 197] [73] Assignee International Business Machines Corporation Armonk,N.Y.

[54] MANIPULATOR 21 Claims, 48 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.CI 214/1, 2l4/l47,74/89.2 [51] lnt.Cl B25j9/00 [50] 2l4/l(B), 1 (83), l (B4), 1 (RCM), I47, 147 (T), 650, 65!, 653,1 (B7);74/1l0, 89. (Z)

[ 56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,876,650 3/1959 Sangster 74/365 2,959,301 ll/l960 Willsea 2l4/l(RCM) 3,2l2,649 l0/l965 Johnson 2l4/l(B3) 3,322,206 5/l967 Gernhardtm 212/55X 2,073,721 3/l937 Wheelock 214/16.l(6B) 3,406,836 10/1968 Manetta 2 l4/l(B4) 3,455,476 7/1969 Grigsby 214/620 3,043,448 7/1962 Melton 2 l4/l(RCM) 3,05 l ,327 8/1962 Goodellm. 214/ HRCM )UX 3,084,967 4/ l 963 Harrett 294/86 3,372,8 l 7 3/ I968 Conklin 2l4/l6.4

Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-George F. Abraham Attorneys-Hanifin and .lancin and Graham S. Jones ABSTRACT: A hydraulically operated manipulator is controlled as an automatic assembly robot to grasp, position and join parts. A tape is perforated with coded instructions and dimensions to control the sequence and amount of displacement by means of incremental motions in several modes of movement of the manipulator. Such modes include grip, sweep, X, Y, Z, 6 (arcuate gripper wrist motion) and search (vibratory parts matching such as inserting a pin in a hole). The main components of the manipulator are a tape reader, an electrically and hydraulically controlled hydraulic serial-to-parallel converter and memory and a hydraulic driver, integer and fraction hydraulic piston adders, an articulated series of X, Y, Z slide members with a gripper and a wrist member all driven by a common drive cable, and a vibratory hydraulic search mechanism.

PMUHED MR2 I971 SHEU 01 0F 33 3 575301 SERIAL DIGITAL INPUTS -800 ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS WW 2 I SERIAL BY SERIAL-T0- CHARACTER INPUTS 228 PARALLEL 1 CONVERTER 2e CONVERTER -63 DATA VALVES SYNCHRONIZATION CONTROL THREE POSITION PORT SWITCHING TOWER r802 SECTION M DE NTEG R FRACTION STEPPING o I E DRWE MEMORY MEMORY MEMORY vALvEs vALvEs vALvEs PARALLEL BY L225 23 231 men OUTPUTS ---j g 'figg PISTON AOOERs -s5 LOGIC SEARCH TREE 252 CABLE AND CONTROL PULLEYS CRLP CONTROL L e CONTROL 9 GEAR z CONTROL 2 ARM Y CONTROL Y ARM ,sav ,38 1 x CONTROL x ARM INVENTOR HUGO A. PANISSIDI ATTORNEY PMENTED APRZO ISFI SHEET 02 OF 3 FIG. 3B

PATEHTEU APRZU I871 3 575 PMEIHEU APRZUISYI SREU 05 [1F 33 P 4 0 L men NORMA X8 210 39 MODES mmul DISPLACEMENT 45 x 10" 40 Y 10" 41 I Z 32" x 1 Q a 2 "(2m") TOTAL 51 I2 (mm i SWEEP I Y 1' 1 l g l g l 90H I (IN) I 310 l I CONVERSION cum FOR 0 MODE (9-Y+Z) F|G 5 e DISPLACEMENT PUNCH CODE FOR IN 0mm ur HOLES 1/32" 7 /3 /15" Hlq 1/32" I f WI Pmmfinmzomn 3.575301 saw as []F 33 FIG 6 ARM SELECT GRIP SWEEP SEARCH 1 Y 2 CLOSED m m a as 80 OPEN ()UT OFF PATENTEU APRZO I971 SHEET 07 u; 3

E e: 9 FwIby w m O n m 2 2 z 2 o:

PATENTEDAFRZOISYI $575,301

SHEET 10 0F 33 PATEHIEDAPR20|9Y| 3,575,301

' sum 11 0F 33 comm -(A) STEP VALVE 2 PORHD) mums; 245

VALVE I m STEP PORT(F)/- comm VALVE comm as mnnmmmqn 3,575,301

sum 12 0F 33 FIG.16

PISTON ADDERS AT ZERO MAX. OUTPUT 31 PATEHTEU APRZO 1m SHEET 18 [1F 33 FIG.2O

A o 2 mm F RETRACTED 

1. An article handling device comprising a plurality of arms, each arm movably connected on at least one end thereof to one of a plurality of joints operable for permitting an arm associated with each said joint to be displaced relative to said joint, whereby said arms are articulated, each of said joints including arresting means, control means for releasing said arresting means for each of said joints selectively in any desired sequence, at will, a single common drive system for reversibly urging displacement of opposite ends Of said article handling device towards extension and retraction, said drive system being connected to each of said arms to exert simultaneous forces on all said arms for driving an arm in a joint having its arresting means released.
 2. An article handling device comprising a plurality of elements connected by selectively releasable slidable joints, means for selectively releasing said slidable joints one at a time in any desired sequence, at will, a single common drive cable and pulleys secured to said elements for extending and retracting said article handling device by operation of each of said slidable joints one at a time.
 3. A manipulator comprising in combination a plurality of elongated elements, means for articulation of said elements orthogonally to form an arm, a gripper secured to said arm, common driving and transmission means for mechanically linking said elements and said gripper simultaneously to urge motion of said elements and turning said gripper joints between said elements and said gripper, each of said joints including arresting means, and means for controlling said arresting means for said elements and said gripper to select which of said elements and said gripper is to be operated by releasing the arresting means associated therewith one at a time, said common drive and transmission means driving the selected one of said elements and said gripper at the joint having its arrested means released.
 4. The manipulator described in claim 3 wherein said elements are of a hollow, square cross section.
 5. A manipulator comprising in combination a plurality of elongated elements, means for slidable articulation of said elements orthogonally to form an arm, gripper means at one end of said arm, common driving means for said elements and said gripper means, means for controlling said elements and gripper to select which of said elements and gripper means is to be operated, and means for controlling the extent of displacement of said driving means, said elements being made from segments of construction grade, square cross section, common tubing having rounded corners and slidable within roller bearings supported on another of said elements.
 6. A manipulator as described in claim 5 wherein said means for slidable articulation of said elements includes sets of rollers riding on the surface of said tubing along longitudinal lines adjacent to the rounded corners of said tubing.
 7. A manipulator comprising in combination a plurality of elongated elements, means for slidable articulation of said elements orthogonally to form an arm, gripper means at one end of said arm, common driving means for said elements and said gripper means, means for controlling said elements and gripper to select which of said elements and gripper means is to be operated, and means for controlling the extent of displacement of said driving means, pulley means being associated with all of said elements and said gripper means and wherein said common driving means is a common drive cable passing through all of said pulley means for driving a selected one of said elements and said gripper means.
 8. A manipulator comprising in combination a plurality of elongated elements, means for slidable articulation of said elements orthogonally to form an arm, gripper means at one end of said arm, common driving means for said elements and said gripper means, means for controlling said elements and gripper to select which of said elements and gripper means is to be operated, and means for controlling the extent of displacement of said driving means, and a plurality of detenting means for holding each of said elements and said gripper means in an adjusted position whereby release of any single one of said detenting means permits the actuation of only the selected one of the elements and the gripper means, said driving means being numerically controlled.
 9. The manipulator described in claim 8 including a programming means for determining by signal transmission the order in which sAid detenting means are released.
 10. A manipulator as described in claim 9 wherein said programming means acts in cooperation with said means for controlling the extent of displacement of said driving means to determine the order in which said elements and gripper are to be operated and the extent to which each is to be displaced.
 11. The manipulator described in claim 10 wherein said programming means comprises an endless control tape for producing continuous repetitions of the sequence of operation of the manipulator.
 12. The manipulator described in claim 9 including a manual control means for preparing said programming means for operation.
 13. A manipulator comprising in combination a plurality of elongated elements, means for slideable articulation of said elements orthogonally to form an arm, gripper means at one end of said arm, common driving means for said elements and said gripper means, means for controlling said elements and gripper to select which of said elements and gripper is to be operated, and means for controlling the extent of displacement of said driving means, a plurality of detenting means for holding each of said elements and said gripper means in an adjusted position whereby release of any single one of said detenting means permits the actuation of only the selected one of the elements and the gripper means, said driving means being numerically controlled, programming means for determining by signal transmission the order in which said detenting means are released, said programming means acting in cooperation with said means for controlling the extent of displacement of said driving means to determine the order in which said elements and gripper are to be operated and the extent to which each is to be displaced, said programming means comprising an endless control tape for producing continuous repetitions of the sequence of operation of the manipulator, said endless tape is a perforated paper tape perforated with a series of sets of three characters of perforations for selecting a mode of operation of the manipulator, the integral value of the extent of displacement and the fractional value of the extent of displacement.
 14. The manipulator described in claim 13 including a manual control means with mode, integer, and fraction controls for preparing the program tape to receive a series of characters representing mode, integral and fractional binary values.
 15. A manipulator comprising in combination a plurality of elongated elements, means for slidable articulation of said elements orthogonally to form an arm, gripper means at one end of said arm, common driving means for said elements and said gripper means, means for controlling said elements and gripper to select which of said elements and gripper means is to be operated, and means for controlling the extent of displacement of said driving means, and a vibrating means connected to vibrate said gripper means longitudinally and transversely until an object held by said gripper is located in a position of engagement thereby restraining said vibration.
 16. A manipulator for grasping and positioning a part for parts assembly purposes, said manipulator being adapted to shift the grasped part along three orthogonal axes to sweep about a base and to twist, said manipulator having a plurality of adjustably related arm elements, with the distal one of said elements terminating in a gripper pivotally joined thereto, means for selectively adjusting the position of any of said elements and the gripper; means for operating the gripper to grasp a part; means for controlling the extent of movement of a selected element and the twisting movement of said gripper; means for sweeping said manipulator in its entirety; means for vibrating said gripper in a transverse plane; each of said arm elements being slidably carried in one of a plurality of joints having a hollow opening and a plurality of rollers secured thereto for providing a slidable, stable loNgitudinal degree of freedom for each of said arm elements, each of said joints including finely machined detent members having a plurality of machined positions for providing highly accurate final location of each said element in its corresponding one of said joints, at least one of said joints being secured to the end of an arm element.
 17. An articulated manipulator for conveying and positioning workpieces, a vertical support with a vertically movable Z arm, a horizontally oriented support on said Z arm movably supporting a Y arm, a support on said Y arm movably supporting an X arm, a gripper rotatably supported on the end of said X arm, a detent means for each of said supports and said gripper and means for operating and releasing the same, a single common cable and pulley mechanism for displacing any of said arm sections and said rotatable gripper, when the detent means associated therewith is released, and a numerically controlled arithmetic drive means for driving the cable and pulley mechanism.
 18. An articulated manipulator for conveying and positioning workpieces, a vertical support with a vertically movable Z arm, a horizontally oriented support on said Z arm movably supporting a Y arm, a support on said Y arm movably supporting an X arm, a gripper rotatably supported on the end of said X arm, a detent means for each of said supports and said gripper and means for operating and releasing the same, cable and pulley mechanism for displacing any of said arm sections and said rotatable gripper, when the detent means associated therewith is released, and an arithmetic drive means for driving the cable and pulley mechanism, each of said arms comprising: a length of standard square hollow tubing and said supports therefor comprise, sets of rollers riding on the surface of axial lines adjacent the rounded tubing corners.
 19. A manipulator for grasping and positioning characterized by having: a plurality of adjustably related arm elements with one of said elements having a gripper which is pivotally mounted thereon; joints between said elements and said gripper, each of said joints including arresting means, means for operating said gripper to grasp; means for selecting which of said arm elements and the gripper is to be adjusted one at a time; and common drive and transmission means mechanically linking all of said elements and said gripper for concurrently urging motion of all of said elements and said gripper and means for controlling said arresting means for allowing the driving of the selected one of said elements and said gripper one at a time in the joint associated with said selected one.
 20. A manipulator comprising a plurality of elongated elements, means for slidably relating said elements to form an arm adjustable in three orthogonally related planes, a gripper means on one element of said arm, means for selecting among said elements and gripper which one thereof is to be operated, and a numerically controlled endless drive cable common to all of said elements and said gripper for reversibly adjusting each selected one of said elements and said gripper.
 21. A positioner including a plurality of elements, joints between said elements, each of said joints including arresting means and means for controlling said arresting means for selectively releasing said arresting means one at a time, an arithmetic drive unit, a transmission means, connected to said drive unit, said transmission means mechanically linking said elements to concurrently urge motion of said elements for selective operation upon each of said elements one at a time driving release of the arresting means in the joint associated therewith. 